Animals
Monstrous mammals would break the body rules
Giant mammals and people thunder through our movies and books. But real mammals can only get so large before they can’t take the heat.
Animals
More Stories in Animals
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AnimalsLosing some genes may explain how vampire bats can live on blood
Loss of 13 genes active in other bats could support the vampires’ blood-eating strategies and adaptations.
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AnimalsInfected caterpillars become zombies that climb to their deaths
By tampering with genes involved in vision, a virus can send caterpillars on a doomed quest for sunlight.
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AnimalsScientists Say: Migration
Migration involves the movement of animals or people from one place to another.
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AnimalsThe scent of queen ‘murder hornets’ can lure males into traps
Traps baited with compounds found in the mating pheromone of hornet queens attracted thousands of males.
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AnimalsSurprise! Sixteen tiny wasp species found masquerading as one
Scientists used new and old tools to overturn 160-year-old ideas about this wasp. They show you can’t tell a wasp by its looks.
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FossilsOne of the earliest meat-eating mammals was saber-toothed
Millions of years before the evolution of saber-toothed cats, a newly discovered "hypercarnivore" prowled the forests of what is now San Diego.
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AnimalsMosquitoes see red, which may be why they find us so appealing
Mosquitoes not only see colors, but also prefer certain ones, such as the hues of human skin.
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AnimalsThe end of the dinosaurs appears to have come in springtime
Fish fossils from North Dakota suggest when the Chicxulub asteroid devastated Earth, triggering the mass extinction of dinosaurs and other species.
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AnimalsAnalyze This: Birds may decorate nests to scare off rivals
Birds that nest in holes face stiff competition for nest sites. Some use feathers, also found where predators have made a kill, to keep rivals away.